Former President Donald Trump accused Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Wednesday of surrendering to Democrats regarding the debt ceiling.
Trump released a statement shortly after McConnell offered a short-term solution to delay a potential national default.
“Looks like Mitch McConnell is folding to the Democrats, again,” Trump said in a statement from his Save America PAC. “He’s got all of the cards with the debt ceiling, it’s time to play the hand. Don’t let them destroy our country!”
Experts estimate that a few weeks remain before the U.S. defaults on the national debt. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said a default would spark an economic crisis and make the U.S. “a permanently weaker nation,” The Hill reported.
McConnell proposed a temporary solution that would allow Democrats to pass an emergency debt-limit extension without needing reconciliation to circumvent the filibuster or attempting to eliminate the filibuster.
Senate Democrats postponed a Wednesday vote as they considered McConnell’s proposal. It appeared the offer would be accepted.
Republicans wanted Democrats to address the debt limit alone, but Democrats insisted Republicans work with them because both parties approved the spending in the first place, partly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The debt ceiling issue temporarily overshadowed Democrats’ efforts to pass President Joe Biden’s $3.5. trillion social-spending bill.
“The Democrat plan, if approved at any level, will push our Country towards socialism!” Trump said in a Sunday statement.
Democrats intend to pass the massive legislation via reconciliation, which requires a simple majority and avoids filibuster. Moderate Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., are opposed to the current plan.
Trump previously pressured Republicans to use the debt limit to negotiate with Democrats on spending.
“The only powerful tool that Republicans have to negotiate with is the Debt Ceiling, and they would be both foolish and unpatriotic not to use it now,” Trump said in a Sept. 22 statement.
“The way I look at it, what the Democrats are proposing, on so many different levels, will destroy our Country. Therefore, Republicans have no choice but to do what they have to do, and the Democrats will have no choice but to concede all of the horror they are trying to inflict upon the future of the United States.”
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